BILL NUMBER: SB 1331	CHAPTERED  09/23/00

	CHAPTER   584
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 23, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 22, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 30, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 25, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 7, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   JUNE 28, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MAY 11, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Alpert

                        JANUARY 5, 2000

   An act to amend Section 42127.8 of, and to add and repeal Section
42127.85 of, the Education Code, relating to school districts.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1331, Alpert.  School districts:  fiscal crisis:  hiring
process.
   Existing law establishes a County Office Fiscal Crisis and
Management Assistance Team, operated by a county office of education,
to provide fiscal management assistance and other services at the
request of a school district or county office of education.
   This bill would also require the team to conduct a review, make
recommendations, and provide technical assistance to streamline and
improve the hiring process and related personnel system of a school
district if the district meets certain criteria.  The bill would
require these provisions to be implemented only to the extent funding
is provided for these purposes, would require annual reports to the
Legislature, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2006,
unless a later enacted statute extends or deletes that date.
   The bill would clarify that the $1,000,000 reappropriated to the
State Department of Education for allocation to the County Office
Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team contained in a specified
item of the Budget Act of 2000 is also available for costs incurred
by the team pursuant to this bill. This provision would not
constitute an appropriation because the costs incurred by the team
pursuant to this bill are within the purposes for which the
$1,000,000 was reappropriated.
   To the extent this bill would require a county office of education
operating the team under existing law to perform new or additional
duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 42127.8 of the Education Code is amended to
read:
   42127.8.  (a) The governing board provided for in subdivision (b)
shall establish a unit to be known as the County Office Fiscal Crisis
and Management Assistance Team.  The team shall consist of persons
having extensive experience in school district budgeting, accounting,
data processing, telecommunications, risk management, food services,
pupil transportation, purchasing and warehousing, facilities
maintenance and operation, and personnel administration,
organization, and staffing.  The Superintendent of Public Instruction
may appoint one employee of the State Department of Education to
serve on the unit.  The unit shall be operated under the immediate
direction of an appropriate county office of education selected
jointly, in response to an application process, by the Superintendent
of Public Instruction and the Secretary for Education.
   (b) The unit established under subdivision (a) shall be selected
and governed by a 23-member governing board consisting of one
representative chosen by the California County Superintendents
Educational Services Association from each of the 11 county service
regions designated by the association, 11 superintendents of school
districts chosen by the Association of California School
Administrators from each of the 11 county service regions, and one
representative from the State Department of Education chosen by the
Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The governing board of the
County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team shall
select a county superintendent of schools to chair the unit.
   (c) The Superintendent of Public Instruction may request the unit
to provide the assistance described in subdivision (b) of Section
1624, Section 1630, Section 33132, subdivision (b) of Section
42127.3, subdivision (c) of Section 42127.6, Section 42127.9, and
subdivision (a) of Section 42238.2, and to review the fiscal and
administrative condition of any county office of education.
   (d) In addition to the functions described in subdivision (c), the
unit shall do all of the following:
   (1) Provide fiscal management assistance, at the request of any
school district or county office of education.  Each school district
or county office of education receiving that assistance shall be
required to pay the onsite personnel costs and travel costs incurred
by the unit for that purpose, pursuant to rates determined by the
governing board established under subdivision (b).  The governing
board annually shall distribute rate information to each school
district and county office of education.
   (2) Facilitate training for members of the governing board of the
school district, district and county superintendents, chief financial
officers within the district, and schoolsite personnel whose primary
responsibility is to address fiscal issues.  Training services shall
emphasize efforts to improve fiscal accountability and expand the
fiscal competency of local agencies.  The unit shall use state
professional associations, private organizations, and public agencies
to provide guidance, support, and the delivery of any training
services.
   (3) Facilitate fiscal management training through the 10 county
service regions to county office of education staff to ensure that
they develop the technical skills necessary to perform their
fiduciary duty.  The governing board established pursuant to
subdivision (b) shall determine the extent of the training that is
necessary to comply with this paragraph.
   (4) Produce a training calendar, to be disseminated semiannually
to each county service region, that publicizes all of the fiscal
training services that are being offered at the local, regional, and
state levels.
   (e) The governing board shall reserve not less than 25 percent,
nor more than 50 percent, of its revenues each year for expenditure
for the costs of contracts and professional services as management
assistance to school districts or county superintendents of schools
in which the board determines that a fiscal emergency exists.
   (f) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may levy
an annual assessment against each county office of education that
elects to participate under this section in an amount not to exceed
twenty cents ($0.20) per unit of total average daily attendance for
all school districts within the county.  The revenues collected
pursuant to that assessment shall be applied to the expenses of the
unit.
   (g) The governing board established under subdivision (b) may pay
to the State Department of Education, from any available funds, a
reasonable amount to reimburse the department for actual
administrative expenses incurred in the review of the budgets and
fiscal conditions of school districts and county superintendents of
schools.
   (h) When employed as a fiscal adviser by the State Department of
Education pursuant to Section 1630, employees of the unit established
pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be considered employees of the
department for purposes of errors and omissions liability insurance.

  SEC. 2.  Section 42127.85 is added to the Education Code,
immediately following Section 42127.8, to read:
   42127.85.  (a) In addition to the functions described in
subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 42127.8, the unit established
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 42127.8 shall conduct a
review, make recommendations, and provide technical assistance,
including a followup review and report, to streamline and improve the
hiring process and related personnel system of a school district if
the school district meets all of the following criteria:
   (1) The school district has requested for at least three
consecutive years a variable term waiver pursuant to subdivision (m)
of Section 44225 for authorization to hire teachers with emergency
permits.  For each of these three years, the number of emergency
permits that the school district has requested either exceeds 20
percent of the school district's estimated need for credentialed
teachers, or exceeds 50 permits, whichever is more.
   (2) The number of emergency permits the district has requested in
its latest declaration of need for fully qualified educators either
exceeds 20 percent of the school district's estimated need for
credentialed teachers, or exceeds 50 permits, whichever is more.
   (b) School districts shall not be required to pay for the costs
incurred by the unit in conducting any activities pursuant to this
section or providing any related assistance.  Costs incurred by the
unit shall be pursuant to rates determined by the governing board
established under subdivision (b) of Section 42127.8, and it is the
intent of the Legislature that the costs shall be funded through the
annual Budget Act.
   (c) This section shall be implemented only to the extent funding
is provided for these purposes.
   (d) First priority for a review pursuant to this section shall be
given to school districts participating in a Teacher Recruitment
Incentive Program consortium pursuant to Chapter 3.44 (commencing
with Section 44751) of Part 25.
   (e) Except for a followup review and report, a school district
shall not receive a review of its personnel systems pursuant to this
section any more frequently than once in any five-year period.
   (f) (1) To the extent that the number of school districts that
qualify for unit review pursuant to this section exceeds that
capacity of unit funding or staffing resources, the unit shall select
a representative sample of school districts to be reviewed.
   (2) The sample shall be representative of the diverse geography,
size, and population density (urban, suburban, or rural) of the
school districts in question.
   (3) Within the sample, priority shall be given to school districts
with the greatest population of pupils attending schools with scores
in the lowest half of the state Academic Performance Index.
   (4) Review pursuant to this section shall not be conducted on more
than five school districts with average daily attendance of 1,500 or
less.
   (g) Any school district that qualifies for review under this
section may elect not to participate if any of the following
conditions are met:
   (1) Of the schools within the school district, the schools that
scored a 5 or less on the state Academic Performance Index have fewer
than 20 percent of their teachers on emergency permits.
   (2) The school district has requested emergency permits for more
than 50 teachers, but fewer than 15 percent of their total estimated
need for credentialed teachers.
   (3) The school district has an average daily attendance of 1,500
or less.
   (h) The unit shall report its activities annually to the
Legislature and shall report in a summarized format on January 1,
2005.
   (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2006, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2006, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 3.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
one-million-dollar ($1,000,000) reappropriation to the State
Department of Education for allocation to the Fiscal Crisis and
Management Assistance Team contained in subdivision (e) of Item
6110-485 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2000 shall also be
available for costs incurred by the Fiscal Crisis and Management
Assistance Team pursuant to Section 42127.85 of the Education Code.
  SEC. 4.  Notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and
school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.  If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
